Triptastic Weekend, part 1

This weekend was epic. Well, maybe not epic, but pretty sweet at the very least. I'm going to take it one day at a time otherwise the post will really get out of control. That means today is Kobe day!

Saturday morning I got a ride to Kobe from Matsumoto-san and her mom (we'll just call her mmm - MatsuMoto Mom. She also made delicious food whenever I was around, and lots of it. Thank you, mmm!) Anyhoo, I got dropped off at Harbor Land. This, unsurprisingly, is next to the port, or harbor if you will. First stop was one of Kobe's famed dapaato (department) stores. Apparently what you do in Kobe is just shop. When I was told this, it gave me the impression that the city might be some sort of oversize premium outlets or something, but that really wasn't correct. It was more like premium outlets next to ten versions of Neiman Marcus next to Chinatown next to a semi-reclaimed harbor town next to a half mile long State Street next to Chicago downtown next to San Francisco townhouses.

Right. So I went to the first dapaato. I bought all the accoutrements for my yukata. I miraculously managed to communicate that I wanted to try the stuff on, then that I didn't need to buy a yukata since I already had one, then that I was happy it fit and that I would buy it. All in Japanese.


After this, it was lunch time. I decided that this Kobe beef stuff was worth trying at least once in my life. I found a cute restaurant which had a 150 g steak for only 4800 yen ($40.) Believe it or not, this is a good price. Holy crap. This was a whole other level of beef. It's not even beef anymore. It's velvety meaty goodness that's so impregnated with flavor (= fine marbling of fat) that you almost want to drink it down. I was able to cut it with my fork. Dearest tri-tip, I still love you best, but Kobe beef is just plain classier. America, you're lucky you raised me to like trashy food. I might defect otherwise.

Next was the actual harbor. There's a largeish tower, imaginatively called Kobe Port Tower, which Lonely Planet describes as being Japan's unimpressive response to the Eiffel Tower. All snarkiness aside, it does have an impressive view of the city. Kobe's a strip squished in between the mountains and the sea and it's real pretty.

Then came the serious shopping. There's a stretch of town about 1/2 - 3/4 mile long called Motomachi that's a covered street full of shops. These include western style bakeries, which I raided for a much needed croissant. Also Starbucks, for a much needed espresso. True to my semi-sketchy nature, I abandoned the nice street about halfway along and found a really really ghetto version of Motomachi one street over. There were used clothing shops, Nintendo 64's for as much as the cost of my lunch, a Native American jewlery store (you know, all the fake Navajo turquoise and such) which I went in just because they were playing country music, record stores, porn shops, refurbished laptops, and all sorts of sketchy knockoff purses, Levi's, shoes, DVDs, and such. I loved it.

I emerged from sketch city at Nankingmachi, i.e. Chinatown. It was ok. Not as great as Yokohama's, or San Francisco's, but there was sago (tapioca balls with fruit and jelly) and boba (tapioca milk tea) which made me very very happy. I also bought a box of Chinese doughnuts which later ended up soaking one of my shopping bags in oil and making me very sick to my stomach late that night.

Finishing off the day, I headed to Sannomiya. This part was sorta like if San Francisco was smashed up against some mountains with tons of karaoke bars. There was a McDonald's and I needed to use the bathroom, so I got myself some delicious, MSG filled fries. Delicious. I met Matsomoto-san again and mmm-san and we went to her family's karaoke bar. I met about ten thousand of her family (okay, maybe just a couple sets of aunts and uncles) who can all sing very well. They also insisted on my participation (Lebekka-chan! Lebekka-chan!) but I cannot sing very well. At all. I can never hear the key until halfway through the song and, well, ack. Thank God that I was warned about this, so before I left I had been practicing a song. After butchering some English songs, I decided to bust out my ace in the hole. With a little kanji prompting, I could read the lyrics and it's a very well known song so I became an instant pop star. Joanna, if you're reading this, they had Living on a Prayer. We need to go to karaoke just to sing this.

Other highlight of the night: Matsomoto-san's uncles. One told me I had a 'naisu body' and the other sang me 'I can't help falling in love' by Elvis. I just need to find unmarried boys my age who act this way and I'll be set.

Osaka tomorrow, folks. I gotta get up early to go to Himeji and meet Dr. Shimizu tomorrow. So, see ya later, alligator.
(when your legs are straighter)
In a while, crocodile.
(after a while!)




love you, Daddy!